Petition: 30 km/h (20 mp/h) urban speed limit

[DRHysted]

[QUOTE 2409458, member: 45"]It may not be a problem in terms of collisions in your area, but too often people don't include the social aspect which cyclopathic refers to.[/quote]

It's not in terms of collisions that there isn't a problem with the speed limit being 30mph where I live. It quite simply is not a problem that the speed limit is 30mph. As such I (and my neighbours) do not want, or need some one telling us that we must change the speed limit because there are problems elsewhere.
Change things where they need (or are wanted) change, but don't fix a problem that doesn't exist. so NO to a blanket ban, but YES to consideration.

 

[Linford]

[QUOTE 2409455, member: 45"]How can it be biased when the person you're asking is a driver?

You've obviously not thought this through. 99% of us are drivers. So there are no others.[/quote]

I can see a few on here who aren't. They certainly make more than 1% of the active members here

 

[Cyclopathic]

Would you be happy to stick to that as a cyclist, or do you just want it in force for others ?

Cyclists would also have to look out for pedestrians. I would certainly stick to it. It's what I pretty much do already in built up residential areas. I go around pedestrians and make allowances for the fact that a lot of them don't look if they can't hear anything.

 

[Cyclopathic]

There's an old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Where I live it ain't broke, so I don't want a fix for something that isn't a problem.

If this is a problem where you live, I have no problem in you campaigning for a solution, but as long as you keep that campaigning where it is needed. i.e. not here!

Nah, I'd roll this out everywhere. Being broken isn't the point. It's about where our priorities lie and I'd like to change our priorities to be more about people on foot than in cars in areas that are really just where people live rather than a throughfare.

 

[DRHysted]

So you want to annoy everyone else, to please yourself?

 

[DRHysted]

If a road needs its speed limit reduced, then reduce it. If it doesn't, leave it alone.
Why annoy people just for the sake of it, when it is not necessary?

 

[DRHysted]

[QUOTE 2412259, member: 45"]It's the definition of "need".

To the driver who just commutes down the road and has no interest in whether the speed limit affects the residents' lives, reducing it would annoy him and therefore be unnecessary.

To the resident to whom a lower speed limit would mean it would be easier for her son to get to the park with his football, she would be annoyed with the higher limit and therefore deem it necessary to reduce it.[/quote]

Sorry I thought I'd been clear, I'm talking about the road outside my own home which is 30mph, and that is the correct speed limit for the road. But it would be classed as residential, so under the blanket legistraion would unnecessarily be reduce to 20mph against the wishes of the people who live here, the opinion off the local councillor, or the highways agency.

 

[Cyclopathic]

If a road needs its speed limit reduced, then reduce it. If it doesn't, leave it alone.
Why annoy people just for the sake of it, when it is not necessary?

For the sake of ease of application a blanket rule would be the best thing. I think the improvement in everybody's quality of life and the resultant lessening of death and injury far outweighs the annoyance of a few people. I don't really care if people are annoyed. I do care if they are injured or killed or if residential areas are more geared towards people being able to walk about freely and let their kids play out in relative safety.
I wouldn't get too upset though. It's not going to happen. Too many people would voice their annoyance and that's not a vote winner and things that don't win votes don't get done in our short termist society.
And if we are going to talk about what is not necessary, is it really necessary for anyone to drive faster than 15 mph in a residential area. If so then how. What makes that so necessary?

 

[Cyclopathic]

So you want to annoy everyone else, to please yourself?

No. Firstly it would not annoy "everybody". Secondly it would not please "just" myself. Not only are you putting words into my mouth, your argument is not reasoned and unnecessarily adversarial.

 

[mcshroom]

Sorry I thought I'd been clear, I'm talking about the road outside my own home which is 30mph, and that is the correct speed limit for the road. But it would be classed as residential, so under the blanket legistraion would unnecessarily be reduce to 20mph against the wishes of the people who live here, the opinion off the local councillor, or the highways agency.

Right speed for you perhaps. How about for the kids who would like to play out? I'd like to go over to assuming that all residential roads are shared space which would mean that people expect to meet pedestrians, footballs, bikes, pushchairs on the road. For far too long the drivers (including myself) have been allowed to intimidate others off of the road and take over a large proportion of the space that we all have a right to use.

I work on a large site (read multiple sq km) which has a 20mph speed limit. After the initial frustration at how slow it feels the first few times you drive round it's amazing how quickly it just settles down and feels like the right speed. We don't have problems with motor vehicles unable to overtake cyclists either.